RESOURCES BOX

Here are some of homeowner Nan Kurzman’s favorite local resources. Architects: David Graham Architects, 175 Main St., Ossining, 914-941-3889; the Mufson Partnership, 22 W. 19th St., Manhattan, 212-352-1919. “David has really grand vision,” Kurzman says. “Mufson pushed us to do the full restoration and they did all of the furniture layouts. They were very pragmatic and very practical.” Kitchen counters: Brooks Custom, 15 Kensico Drive, Mount Kisco, 914-666-2029, www.brookscustom.com. “They did the beautiful walnut counters in the kitchen, and they do much more,” Kurzman says. Upholstery: Lumia Decorators, 616 Main St., New Rochelle, 914-576-0500, lumiadec@yahoo.com. They did all of the fabrics in the dining room. Floor coverings: Tufenkian Carpets, 919 Third Ave., Manhattan, 877-889-4593, www.tufenkiannewyork.com. Except for a couple of small bedroom rugs, they did all of the rugs in the house.

Drawings on the wall of a third-floor bedroom show off the artwork of Reginald Marsh. The current owners discovered the drawings when stripping off wallpaper 25 years ago.

Homeowner Nan Kurzman sits in the great room, which was the original artists studio. The narrow, 15-foot high window to her left was used to move paintings in and out of the room. Photos by Mark Vergari/The Journal News

The kitchen of this Normandy Tudor in New Rochelle, photographed March 21, 2013, and built in 1913, is on the market. The home was originally owned by artist Frederick Dana Marsh. ( Mark Vergari/The Journal News ) / Mark Vergari/The Journal News

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By any reckoning, Nan Kurzman and Moshe Sukenik live on one of the best streets in the North End of New Rochelle. Avon Road, which sits just off North Avenue near Wykagyl Country Club, is a one-way charmer loaded with big old houses from the early 20th century.

And just about anyone who lives on Avon would agree that the Kurzman-Sukenik house, at No. 56, is one of the most interesting and eclectic in the Wykagyl Park neighborhood.

Kurzman and Sukenik have been in their rambling Normandy Tudor for 25 years, living through two major renovations, including the most recent one that sent the whole family into a rental apartment for a year. Now their three children are all up and out, and it’s time to downsize from a six-bedroom, five-bath house to something that’s more couple-sized.

Last month, Kurzman and Sukenik listed their 6,000-square-foot house for $1.895 million, with Joan S. Penn of Prudential Centennial Realty of Larchmont. Offers are already beginning to come in.

“We’re only the third owners,” Kurzman says. The house was built in 1913 by Frederick Dana Marsh, one of the dozens of well-known artists and illustrators who had homes and studios in New Rochelle in the first few decades of the 20th century. His sons, James Marsh and Reginald Marsh, were also artists who lived and worked in the house.

Frederick Dana Marsh was primarily a muralist known for his big, bold brush strokes. Clients included E.F. Hutton and John D. Rockefeller Jr., and his murals can be found in the Smithsonian Institution.

James Marsh, a metal artisan with a studio in Manhattan, developed a plan for New Rochelle’s well-known approach signs in the 1920s and forged the 10 iron signs that welcome visitors to the city.

Reginald Marsh became the best known of the three, famous for his paintings and sketches of New York City street scenes: along the elevated train lines, outside 42nd Street movie houses (“The Twenty Cent Movie”) and on the beach and boardwalk at Coney Island.

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After the Marshes, the house was owned by the Tuttle family for 50 years. “I won’t say it was a wreck, but it was very much in disrepair,” Kurzman remembers. “The Tuttle kids were taking care of their parents, not the house.”

The primary leftover from the Marshes was a cavernous old artists studio at the back of the house, tucked behind the living room walls. The walls were made of particle board, perfect for hanging works in progress and finished canvases.

A large trapezoidal window high up on one wall faced north, flooding the two-story studio with the bright, indirect light that artists adore. A narrow and 15-foot-tall glass doorway allowed oversized canvases to be easily slid in and out of the room.

Until their major renovation of the house, the Kurzman-Sukenik family had mostly been using the old studio as a giant playroom, with a ping-pong table, full-sized basketball backboard and net and comfortable old sofas for lounging. It was a neighborhood favorite for birthday parties. But the walls were beginning to crumble, and the whole room felt sad and badly deteriorated.

After much debate and lots of encouragement from David Graham, their Ossining-based architect, they decided to knock down the studio and replace it with a state-of-the-art kitchen and great room. And while we’re at it, they thought, let’s flip the living and dining rooms and change the whole orientation of the back of the house to take better advantage of the extra large (0.65 acres) and totally private backyard.

“We completely flipped the house around,” Kurzman says. “I fought it for a long time — I was afraid of ruining the integrity of the house — but I don’t think we did anything that was a mistake.”

Indeed, the finished house is just gorgeous — sleek, modern and warmly inviting, but oozing historic charm and architectural integrity.

The first floor front-facing public rooms — an expansive front hallway, and the flipped dining and living rooms — have original wood paneling that had been completely painted over. One of the first things Kurzman and Sukenik did was to remove all the paint and restore the beautiful blond wood to its original luster.

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The dining room, now on the other side of the house, has its own fireplace and comfortable seating for 22. It flows right into the expanded kitchen.

We’re just crazy about that new kitchen, which now sits above and adjacent to the great room. It boasts an extra-wide side-by-side Sub-Zero refrigerator, double in-wall Miele ovens and warming drawer, and twin dishwashers and a built-in espresso/cappuccino maker, also by Miele. Like the surrounding hallways, the room has Jerusalem Gold limestone flooring with radiant heat as well as a mahogany center island with seating for four and custom cabinets with divided lights and under-cabinet lighting.

Add in a wine cooler, double stainless sinks, an additional fridge just for beverages, a baking station with Calcutta marble, copper bar sink and a large pantry with custom roll-out drawers, and you’ve pretty much got a dream kitchen for anyone who entertains.

“It’s a great kitchen to walk into, to be in, to cook in,” Kurzman says. “The light is wonderful.”

“It’s a great party house,” she adds. “The flow from room to room is amazing.”

In the great room, Graham replaced the giant north-facing window with a set of similar windows on either side of a new chimney and fireplace centered on the north wall. And yes, that old narrow door for paintings has been preserved, now standing next to three sets of French doors that open onto new stonework and gardens. Graham also helped them carve out a bit more space in the back of the house.

“Bumping out the back, about 10 feet, gave us the ability to have more of a back door area and a mud room,” Kurzman says. It also let them add a full first-floor bathroom near the back door. It sits just off the old kitchen, which is now a library/office that can double as a first-floor bedroom when elderly parents visit.

Upstairs, we’re particularly fond of the new master bath, which was formerly part of the balcony in the old two-story artists studio. It’s not ridiculously grand or over the top, but still luxe and luxurious, especially that deep soaking tub that sits just under a custom arched window.

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The room also features his and hers sinks and walk-in closets, a steam shower, and handsome glass tile flooring and wainscoting for the walls.

There are four bedrooms on the second floor, including a large and very comfortable master. The third floor holds two more bedrooms and a home gym with an infrared sauna. By family tradition, this was the exclusive lair of the oldest teenager still at home. “After SATs, you were allowed to go to the third floor,” Kurzman explains.

The bare walls of one of the third-floor bedrooms feature detailed pencil drawings of Revolutionary War battle scenes by Reginald Marsh. Kurzman and Sukenik found the drawings while pulling down wallpaper soon after they moved in 25 years ago.

Like many owners of old houses who have left such a personal imprint, Kurzman says that leaving will be bittersweet for her and her husband.

“My only regret is that I didn’t get to live here longer, after the renovation,” she says. “We did the hard part. I’ve made it easy for the next person to maintain the integrity of the house.”

“I would buy it again,” she adds with a laugh. “If I walked into a house like this, forget about it!”